Chesapeake Crab Connection

I recently decided to give this company a try and ordered crabs to be delivered on Sept 23rd. that order did not arrive on time and when it did arrive on the 24th it was damaged and the one and only gel pack they used to keep my order cold in shipping was thawed and busted open spilling into my crabs. upon arrival I immediately reached out to them and told them about the delay and issue with the thawed and busted gel pack. they directed me to their customer service who initially sounded like they might try to make things right however their offer of another order of crabs on them was not what I would consider a fair compensation for the delay and damages to the first order. when I offered the option of a upsize from large to jumbo order to earn then a second chance or I would just take a refund the communications from them stopped. today I tried calling them and the person I got on the phone was beyond rude and all he wanted to do was make excuses for the customer service employee who according to him is just one person and he made it clear that they are getting so many complaints that she was too busy to get back in touch with me and I would just have to wait until she does if I want anymore of their crabs which at this point I absolutely do not ever want anymore crabs from this company.

We only dine in on Tuesday and Thursday for all you can eat crabs. For $70 bucks a person. We find it very affordable. You get delicious french fries. Shrimp salad (nothing to write home about that). But hey, we come for the crabs.
Corn on the comb. Soda and water. Feels like I missed something.
Crabs perfectly season and most where heavy. Young lady who served us did a outstanding job. This was our second visit this year. Highly recommend!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Ordered what I clicked on as buy 2 dozen get 1 dozen free. Somehow the order changed to a half bushel of crabs . Upon arrival there were 2 dozen crabs with half being smaller than the others. The packing slip says not all items shipped with your order. Making contact via email as you don't get a phone number to call I was offered a refund or 6 crabs. That was almost 2 weeks ago. Sorry won't be ordering again.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 1

The crabs were huge and delivered very quickly. The crabs were so fresh and tasty that I am about to order some more today.

🚫 Customer Beware – Repeatedly Sent the Wrong Size Crabs I’ve ordered from this company three times: ✅ First order – XL crabs: Perfect. Heavy, fresh, and came with a sizing paper. ❌ Second order – Large crabs: I received mostly small to medium. No sizing paper included. ❌ Third order – XL crabs again: Same issue—small crabs, and again, no sizing paper. This last order was the most expensive, and yet it was nowhere close to what XL should be. I measured multiple crabs and only ONE was even 6 inches (XL should be 6.5”+). I sent multiple photos and measurements to prove it. Their response? They pointed to that one crab and ignored the rest. Leaving out the sizing paper twice in a row, especially when the crabs were undersized, doesn’t feel like an accident—it feels intentional. If this happened once, I’d chalk it up to a mistake. But twice, with the same missing paper and wrong sizes? That’s a pattern. When I gave them the chance to make it right by reshipping the correct size, they refused. So I’ve: Filed a chargeback Reported them to the BBB, FTC, and Attorney General And now I’m sharing this experience so others don’t get burned like I did 🧾 I have photos, receipts, and emails to back it all up. Don’t let the polished ads on Instagram or Facebook fool you—this company does not stand behind what they sell. If they make it right, I’ll update this. But as of now, I strongly suggest ordering elsewhere.

🚫 Customer Beware – Repeatedly Sent the Wrong Size Crabs

I’ve ordered from this company three times:

✅ First order – XL crabs: Perfect. Heavy, fresh, and came with a sizing paper.
❌ Second order – Large crabs: I received mostly small to medium. No sizing paper included.
❌ Third order – XL crabs again: Same issue—small crabs, and again, no sizing paper.

This last order was the most expensive, and yet it was nowhere close to what XL should be. I measured multiple crabs and only ONE was even 6 inches (XL should be 6.5”+). I sent multiple photos and measurements to prove it. Their response? They pointed to that one crab and ignored the rest.

Leaving out the sizing paper twice in a row, especially when the crabs were undersized, doesn’t feel like an accident—it feels intentional. If this happened once, I’d chalk it up to a mistake. But twice, with the same missing paper and wrong sizes? That’s a pattern.

When I gave them the chance to make it right by reshipping the correct size, they refused. So I’ve:

Filed a chargeback

Reported them to the BBB, FTC, and Attorney General

And now I’m sharing this experience so others don’t get burned like I did

🧾 I have photos, receipts, and emails to back it all up. Don’t let the polished ads on Instagram or Facebook fool you—this company does not stand behind what they sell.

If they make it right, I’ll update this. But as of now, I strongly suggest ordering elsewhere.

I ordered crabs on August 24th and wanted fresh hot crabs. When I picked them up the
they definitely were not hot and when I got them home and started eating them, I could tell they must have been leftover crabs because they were like mushy and not fresh. I would not recommend the crab connection on Columbia Avenue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 4

Eli was really nice and knowledgeble , crab cakes looked delish- 20.00 a piece, looks fresh and a good size! Excited to have them tmrw for dinner! Thank you Eli for all your help!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Terrible experience with Chesapeake crab connection and I’ve been a longtime customer. The company has obviously done some upgrades to its website, but is faltering in the quality of its product. I live in California, but I’m from the East Coast and we know crabs. I always order very large males when I get a shipment. I am always at the door waiting for the shipment to arrive. How sad was I to open the package and see that the dry ice had completely melted and it had started to ooze out of one of the packets. The crabs were warm, not cool or cold the way they usually are. We threw out more than half of them because we were not sure how long the crabs had been subject to the heat. They were literally hot. I called the company and left a message and did not hear anything back from them. This was absolutely the most disappointing experience I’ve ever had. I will be looking for a new crab vendor from now on. All I can say is do not offer two day shipping if you cannot appropriately pack the crabs so that they are fresh and on ice upon arrival. If you as a company cannot do this then don’t offer that shipping option.

Will was do very friendly and helpful, their prices were quite reasonable. I will definately go back and patronize . Highly recommend

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Excellent crabs!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I love fresh crabs and usually get them from Maryland and when I called to order a dozen crabs at $99. A dozen! I said I wanted them hot and he said did you want them cooked from live and I said of course I Was thinking that I can get old crabs at Giant grocery store for a third of the price. So when I called in for the order I specifically said again that I wanted crabs that would be cooked from live. Well when I got them home a few of them were, the rest of them the legs were like chewing on jerky there was no way that they were freshly cooked crabs. It was embarrassing and disappointing because I had two friends over who also know the difference between freshly cooked from live crabs and 2-day-old crabs. I had said something to the cashier when I was Paying for them to reaffirm what my expectations were and The cashier informed me when I was picking up the crabs that they don't get crabs in on Mondays which means that Monday and probably most of Tuesday you're getting leftover crabs from the weekend. So if you care and know the difference be aware.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 3

I got some medium males and some of them were Halo majority of them was Halo so I wouldn't know and they weren't seasoned as I thought they would have been should have been

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 5

The steamed male bluecrabs were very good. The clams were very good. The crabcakes, at $20.00 each were inedible. They were so spicy I couldn't eat them. There was alot of crabmeat, not alot of filler, but the spice was too much for me. We paid $60 for 3 crabcakes....couldn't eat them.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 5

Crabs were very Delicious and heavy. I've been there a couple of times for crab 🦀

Atmosphere: 4